Surviving the war
by Henry Uchiha
Summary: I pause, from the darkness I can see some stuff of him, but not much. He has blonde hair, a square jaw, and a remnants of what looks like a limp as he steps back to look me over. On his head is a small circle of a scar as though he had been shot. "Who the hell are you? Where am I?" "I'm Newt." He smiles. "Welcome to hell." Warning: boyxboy Don't like then don't read.
1. Waking up

_**Hi everyone. This is my first time writing a Maze runner fan fiction. I've recently just finished the first book though thanks to my evil friend they spoiled the rest of the series... a massive thanks to them! Anyway, I'm going to post a warning with the beginning of each chapter. I hope you all enjoy it, if you do, follow favourite or even review! Hope you have a nice day where ever you are. **Warning: story contains BoyxBoy, swearing, scenes of violence and bear in mind and ratings may be turned up at a later time.****_

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><p>I still wait for it to end. The cold of the bitter winter, the merciless ice always at my throat and grinding into my chest as it gives me nothing but the most useless of hope for any survival. My physical body survives while my mental state deteriorates with each growing day. I stare through a lifeless eye that seems to show me nothing more than the poison of my wound. The infection that brings me to my knees as I know I have no more ounce of fight left in me. I'm just a shell that waits for time to decide it's final moment; degrading slowly and breaking because of time.<p>

But why do I have to wait?

I know why… It's because I'm a survivor.

I know that much. I know how to run and to keep on going. I know how to ignore the pain of burning lungs and the ache of a body, which is ready to give in and collapse. I know how to sly my way through conversation and draw eyes away from my self.

At least… I think I do?

What is this darkness around me? Why does it decide that it claims me? This small box and corridor of a prison I find myself in? Why does it matter any more if I carry on the fight? Something tells me I've already lost now that I'm here. Something tells me that now I have failed everything that I ever set out to accomplish.

But how can I trust senses that come from an empty mind. How can I trust a personality that I know nothing about?

How can I trust myself when I don't even know who I am?

I try to look around but again this winter darkness seems to be compacted in the small room around me.

I feel my heart accelerating as my breathing becomes rapid. I'm trapped. I can't see the world around me… am I even still alive? What is around me?

I reach out a hand and feel the cold biting beneath the gentle of my fingers. It's rough but smooth… sharp in patterns. Steel? Some kind of metal I think. Is that what this is? Not a room of darkness but a cell of imprisonment? I'm a cornered rat. I'm stuck and I don't know what to do. I can't see anything. I should be scared. I should be terrified. I should be screaming for someone or anything to be there.

But I don't… I just stay there. I think, and that's good. Oh by god is that good. Thinking means that I'm still here. That something of me exists. But who was I really? I was just a boy in the darkness of this new nightmare. I was a dog in a cage. I needed to get out.

I reached up slowly and felt my face just to even assure myself that it was still there. It was madness but it was familiarity. It was insanity but it was something that I could partly understand. It was me.

Some part of me can't help but think that I really am dead... why can't I remember! Why can't I see or feel anything! Why isn't there anything else there but me and this cell!

_"STAND." _

I pause as that echoes around me.

I pull my knees closer to my chest. I close my eyes and try to remember ever bit of the tone that resonated and filled my head. _Knowing your enemy is half the battle. _My thoughts tell me. They act like a reflex. They don't leave me time to do anything but act on them. "STAND NOW. OR. DIE." The voice has no intention of malice or spite. There is no anger behind it but a matter of face statement.

I have no choice as I heard the walls beginning to groan and grind. In the flash of darkness I can see them; they're beginning to crush in towards me. I have to move or I'll have my legs through my chest.

I nod to the dark sky above me.

That is the only reaction I'll give it.

My voice still feels none existent.

I slowly stand and pull myself up. My legs are shaking. It hurts to stand as though I've been running for the last five hours. I thought it was just the cold causing me so much exhaustion, but no. I've been running. Recently. Something tells me if running is the thing which has exhausted me.

I must have done a hell of a lot of it.

_"THANK. YOU." _Despite the sheer loud sound of the voice against the announcements, I can finally note the first bit of a couple of emotions behind it. Gratitude and a wary back drop. _"Please. Hold. Still."_

I try not to scream as I feel something pierce into my wrist.

I notice a small square patch of the wall had opened up. A tube has coiled around my wrist before a syringe was now taking some blood from deep inside a vein. Why were they doing this? Why were they-

I pause as I feel something dripping down my cheek. It's heavier than the feel of water. _"We're losing him. He's going into shock." _I get the feeling that I'm not supposed to have heard that. _"Harry. Come on. Stay with me. Don't give in now."  
>Like I would ever give in. I'm a survivor. I fight.<em>

I can feel my heart. It's beating faster than I can feel. He's right. It feels as though it's going to give out. It feels like it can't take this pace any more. _"The heart can't take being re awoken like this. It's struggling. Send him up top. Maybe He can calm him down."_

The needle pulls back and I gasp in pain.

Hold onto the pain. That's how I'm going to stay alive.

But I'm so tired... I want to sleep.

I need to sleep.

_"Are we losing him?!" _A voice growls over the speaker.  
><em>"No. He's just going to sleep. Let him. Give him a taste of his old life. He needs something to hold onto encase it doesn't work when he surfaces."<br>"Then wipe it clean."_

_What? No. NO! NO!_

I feel my eyes becoming heavier as I can no longer keep awake. _No! Don't! Don't do it! _My thoughts roar in anger.

But it's too late.

My eyes are closed.

My subconscious is becoming heavier and crippled till I'm in a dream.

_**-The Dream-**_

"One two."

My fist pumped out smashing into the bag.

"ONE TWO!"

The punch bag went back slightly as I felt the impact spread through the strong pose of my arm.

It was like the rhythm of a strong wave, cascading and slowing surging through ever single posed muscle. My arm however was resurgent and unwavering. It refused on every single level to be acknowledged as anything less than a solid pose of marble.

"Come on you're slacking!" A voice shouted over.

Why did everyone want that? Why did everyone want the damn best out of me! Training takes time! Get off my back! What do you want?!

"Oh it's okay sir. The freak is used to slacking."

I paused for a moment and turned my head towards the main ring of the arena. There was percy in all is self imposed, vein glory. His vest thrown to one side and abandoned now he was pushing his own limits. His slightly tanned chest gleamed under the spot lights of the large gym. His hair had been slicked back revealing those deep and all knowing eyes. His turquoise shorts revealed a bit more of his hip that made me blush for some reason.

He slowly walked forward, bored of the happenings in his own fight and lent slowly forward onto the corner of the wring, resting his head on the top rope and giving me that annoying smirk like smile which I detested with every fibre of my being. "Come on horsey. Stop slacking and come play with the big boys."  
>"Yeah, I'm sure you like to play with boys." I barked and watched him flinch back as though I had actually landed a punch onto him.<br>"You little bastard!" He snarled.  
>"Shut up! Both of you! It's bad enough that we've had to double up with that stupid dance class, now I've got enough headaches without the two of you going at it! Now get back to training!"<p>

Percy decided to give me one last confident look before he turned back to his opponent. "Oh interested again are we-"

**_BANG_**

I didn't look.

I didn't need to. The sound of the other boy's body hitting the floor was all that I needed to hear to understand what had happened: why Percy was so confident in himself and so lazy during that fight.

He had been toying with the boy and had been saving himself for the big one punch finish.

This was all just one big show for him.

That's what pissed me off.

After that... I'm not sure what exactly happened.

A rush began to fill my mind. My eyes darted back and forth over the warn leather. The dry and aged material groaned slightly as suddenly they were met by a blitz and frenzy of attacks. It seemed to just be the same rhythm beating over and over in my mind. _Punch, pause, punch, punch, pause, punch.  
><em>"EASY TIGER!" The same voice of the coach barked.

But now I had lost myself... I didn't know what was going on.

What was up and down? Where was left or right? My vision almost seemed completely black as my fists relentlessly pounded out against the leather with great prejudice. "Hey... I didn't mean to get you so-"  
>"YAGH!"<p>

I turned and only caught a glimpse as my fist went directly towards Percy's face. His forearm came up in a defence and took the full blunt blow of my hit. I didn't stop there. The same feral and frantic rhythm. My fists just shooting out at any available space on Percy I could find. "HEY Harry!" He snarled.

But I couldn't stop. There was just to much built up, unable to escape. Unable to do anything other than hate him with my entire existence? Everyone wanted nothing less then perfection out of me! "Harry!" Percy roared. "Calm down! WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?"

_Angry... ANGRY?!_

As soon as he said that I let the full torrent of pent-up rage explode across my mind with a scream. I imagined an unsanctioned fire, burning so bright and yet with a righteous darkness, as though summoned from the darkest pits of hell. It was reined by the memories of suffering I had kept pent-up for the last five years. The rage burst through and smashed him to the side as though he was a leaf on the highway. His eyes widened as I opened mine and I saw him stare at me with a drowning guilt.

Then as I went to lash out, my arm nearly went limp as I tore my gaze away from Percy.

Slowly it moved over and locked onto a dark slightly dark haired boy in the corner of the room with one of the instructors.

He slowly rose his almost porcelain hand out to the side and slid it through the air. His fingers stretched out as he leaned his head back and let his dark hair move back which originally had been swept across his face. His eyes were not completely black but the hazel brown in them were so intense that I couldn't help but just stare a bit deeper.

He was dressed in nothing other than some tight black shorts. His pale chest was exposed. He wasn't as toned as me or Percy, but he looked a hell of a lot stronger than what he did.

I was almost hypnotized as I watched his hand slowly come back down and move across his cheek delicately. His fingers were perfectly lined as they moved back out and he raised his leg as gently as he could. His foot pointed out carefully. He was so graceful and so delicate... yet he looked like he had more control and more beauty than anything I have ever seen before. "It's not good enough! What have I told you about your arms!"

_No... he looks perfect! There's nothing wrong with his arms! _My thoughts whispered.

The boy took a slow and steady breath as his soft gaze slowly turned towards the ceiling while his head bowed slightly backwards. His leg raise up in a perfect ninety degree angle as he raised up on the tip of his other foot.

I could see from here that his instructor was smiling internally though they didn't let it anywhere out of her external mask. Typical trainer critic style.

Percy followed my gaze and the next thing I knew was there was a fist launched at my face and sending me flying back towards the ground.

Even so... my eyes didn't move away from the boy once. He was so elegant and beautiful in stance.

His other leg slowly began to come down point first as though it was a sharpened blade about to make contact with a victim.

But this was pure and absolute beauty.

The boy's foot landed and even the trainer raised an eyebrow as he instantly shifted his weight and began to quickly flip.

I finally hit the cold ground and watched as he finished the third flip by spinning out on the tip of his toes. His other leg was arched back and move out as though he was a rotating razor.

He finally came to a stop after the fifth spin and caught his breath. His nimble fingers curled around a near bar and he took small, controlled breaths. "You think that this is going to be good enough?" The tutor growled. Her voice and tone went against everything that was hiding deep within her eyes. Her pride of the boy. He amazement over that performance.

All distorted in her voice by a blatant and controlled lie.

Why was I thinking like this? What did some other boy and his bloody dance have to mean with me-  
><em>Shut. The. Hell. Up. <em>My own thoughts cut me brilliantly short before I could go down the path of my usual angry attitude. _For once, just acknowledge something of yourself you idiot. _My thoughts scolded me worse than the punch from Percy had dealt onto me.

Speaking of which...

I spit blood from my mouth as I sat up off the ground and turned my glare back towards him. "Him! Seriously! You look at the dancing boy before anyone else!" Percy snarled into my face and I couldn't help but frown deeply.  
>"What is your problem!" I glared and watched his eyes just sharpen harshly.<br>"You are. You stupid bastard!" Percy came to take another swing at me but this time I was more prepared.

My fists sailed straight into his face before I pushed myself up quickly and scrambled back as fast as I could. "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!" He snarled.  
>"Enough!" The coach barked. "I'm sick to death of you both doing this every time you come to lessons! Harry! You can start coming after school!"<br>"What!" Me and Percy boy exclaimed. That made me frown again. Why did Percy want me to stay in that class... Probably just so he wouldn't have to find another punching bag.  
>"Unless you can both get on from now on in class. I will start getting you both put apart into different classes! That means Harry, you will be coming after school when Ms. has her one on one dance lessons! And believe you me horsey."<p>

Me and Percy shot him a glare as he used that name.

"She doesn't like little runts like you."  
>"She can hear you!" The woman who I guessed was Ms. Soleil barked out across to Coach.<p>

She wasn't like many of the other teachers. Her figure was curvy and she was very thin. Her brown hair cascaded down to her shoulders and her eyes almost seemed to pierce you... but she was very much unlike any other teacher at school. We had her sometimes for English or she sometimes took up monitoring the library. But the reason she was unlike any other teacher at the school? She took a very different approach to class room work.

I remember when a new boy had entered the class room once. His name was... Carl... Connor? Something like that. He was a shocking sight really, golden blonde hair. Deep dark eyes, malnourished, he was like a twig that could be snapped. Plus he had been a bucket of nerves! He wouldn't meet anyone's gaze! But I digress.

The boy had walked into the classroom half way into the lesson. Ms had been half way into quoting a book we had to write a project about when she finally noticed him. "Yes?" She said indifferently as the boy shuffled his feet nervously.  
>"Um... they told me to come here." He whispered.<br>"Speak. Up." She stated as she lent back on the desk. Her reading glasses were dangling from her neck. Her perfectly made up eyelashes, batted once as she was giving him a quicker analysis than even the students were.  
>"I'm new." The boy said a little louder but was still quiet in his approach. He kept his eyes locked on the ground.<br>"Take a seat then." She shrugged as she circled back around the desk... though ever from here, I could see she was looking at him out the very corner of her eye. Something about this boy interested her for some reason.

Well... It wasn't as though he wasn't good looking I guess. "W-Where." He looked around at the cold and blank looks of the other students. Ms however had a new fascinated look in the corner of her eye. She knew something that we didn't... she recognized something which we were looking for but just hadn't figured out yet. "Sit by who ever you think is the best looking." She said.

Immediately every student in the room perked up at this vanity competition... well. With the exception of me. I was still studying the expression in Ms' face as she watched the boy openly now. Without any resignation of hiding what she thought.

Some of the guys slouched back in their chairs acting all cool, looking for acceptance as the best looking kid among a crop of the morons which we were. Percy grinned to the boy and for a moment I thought I saw him give the boy a small wink. "Yeah, come on. Chose-"  
>"Quiet class." Ms glanced at me for a moment as she almost seemed to consider something before she turned back to look at everyone else. "Let him decide." She turned back to the front and began to write out on the large board, copying quotes while the boy looks between everyone in the room.<p>

But when I eventually saw Ms glance at me again and lean back on her desk, surprise ran through me. "Isabella, shift yourself."  
>"Excuse me?" My best friend looked up from doing her make up in blatant disregard of what was going on in the class.<br>"Shift." Ms stated and I said nothing as the boy came and sat next to me.

What I did notice was that Percy cast the boy a loathing glare so deep that I lost my patience and lent back in my chair and casually looked over. "Aw Percy. Disappointed that you wasn't chosen as a boy magnet?" I felt Ms glance at me casually before she turned back to the front, suppressing her smirk.  
>"Watch your mouth Horse face." He growled back at me. "I could get any girl in this room faster than you."<br>"I wonder if he can get into detention as fast as you can?" Ms said casually and leaned back on her desk, giving a small nod to the door before Percy glared around and stormed off. "Now back to the Odyssey."

That had been a weird day... but it also had been the only time that boy had ever sat by me in class. After that he had just ran out of class. Some say that he transferred class or schools. I didn't believe so... I don't listen to idle gossip.

So all in all... the threat of having to have an extra hour after school instead of having to deal with Percy being a moron. Either situation I could handle...

Hang on...

I looked over to see where Ms was as she was giving more instructions to the boy who moved in absolute perfect beauty. His form and body was perfect. I could feel my pulse racing slightly as I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather be doing than watching this boy just perform.

There was no uncertainty. No hesitation. Just him and his dancing. "Pick it up!" Ms said calmly, it was less out of bark but more out of an experimental idea.

But then...

He came to a stop.

For a moment I caught my breath, wanting to see what he would do next. Would he carry on dancing? Would he sing? Would he stop and give it in for the day. I knew that I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to know if his voice was as silky and beautiful as his movements. I was desperate to know. "You look tired." She lent back against the wall and looked the boy over. He had his back to me and I was desperate to get a full look at his face. I had only gotten small glimpses before. But now curiosity was burning as an inferno inside of me.

"Well?"

In response the boy tapped his foot down.

"I get it." She gave a soft smile. "But try and at least keep some of the Ballet in it-"  
>"Ballet? HA!"<p>

The boy paused as Ms turned around and looked at Percy. "You think a guy doing Ballet is funny?"  
>"No it's just not as cool as ordinary dancing." Percy shrugged.<br>"Shut up... or I'm going to punch you in your fucking face." I growled at him, growing even more tired than usual of his stupid arrogant self.

"Don't you dare." Ms whispered softly.

_**Tap**_

I slowly turned my head back to the boy and watched as his foot came back down and made the same echoing tune. Her hand reached out and came to rest on his shoulder. "Don't." She smiled at the boy until a sharp glare broke out at Percy. "Butt. Yours. Detention. Now!" She snapped.  
>"You got to be kidding me!" I looked back at Percy who had a face that almost seemed to be disbelief.<br>"Cocky bastard." I muttered under my breath as he walked away. I knew very well that he had heard me.

But that was the first time that he had ever not fought back against me.

He cast me one sideways glance before walking off and leaving me with more questions than answers.

But right now I had one that needed it be answered right there and right then.

I slowly turned back towards the corner of the room where Ms had been stood. Only to see her packing her bag as the bell went off.

No boy.

How had he gone so quickly?

I had to find out who he was.

_**-End of dream-**_

Even as I was slowly beginning to blink my eyes open I could feel it fading. Every ounce of the memory was slipping away faster than I could recall it. _Hold onto something. Any part of it. Any thing, no matter how small of a detail it may be! HOLD ONTO IT! _My thoughts screamed in pure desperation and I tried. By god I was trying to hold in all the information but it was sliding away. _No. Please! Come on please! _My mind begged.

But it was absolutely no use.

Even as I felt the tight pod which was now my cell came to a stop and the walls pulled back, everything was still falling away.

I laid back and just stare at the ceiling. The gave me something just to have it took away?

They tease me with a glimpse of my past?

Now I'm pissed off.

But I'm exhausted. Even as I stare up and watch a crack of light zigzagging through the ceiling and breaking open I still just lay there.

"Same as always." The first solid voice I hear echoes around me.

It leaps down and lands in a crouch above me. "Get up, first day of being a soldier is here."

I pause and look at the small glimpse of him that I can get. I can see some stuff but not much. He has blonde hair, a square jaw, and a remnants of what looks like a limp as he steps back to look me over. On his head is a small circle of a scar as though he had been shot...

His eyes follow my gaze and he grins."Got a name?" He asks a little softer.  
>"Who the hell are you? Where am I?" I ignore his question openly and dive for my own.<br>"I'm Newt." He smiles. "And you're on the battle field. Welcome to hell."


	2. Run as fast as you can

_**Hi everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and I hope you have a nice day where ever you are. **Warning: story contains BoyxBoy, swearing, scenes of violence and bear in mind and ratings may be turned up at a later time. I want to thank anyone who favourites or follows this story =)****_

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><p>I pause for a moment as I watch his body get illuminated by a loud and dark flash.<p>

The ground shakes and I pause as he falls forward onto me. His crouch hadn't been strong enough to hold him in place. I watch the distant dance of orange above us send a aura of light that flows around his eyes. They seem so dark now that they are illuminated. They're cold and empty as though the very boy himself was nothing but a shell...

_The recovering._

_What? _I frown as that sudden and certain thought comes into mind. It seemed so certain and beyond doubt... but at the same time it seemed desperate to be acknowledged in it's fleeting passing. But just like everything else that seemed to go through my head, it faded with no mercy or echo as to what it had been. No release from this darkness that holds everything strange and absent. Still I'm here fighting for even the slightest clue to who and what I am?

But as I'm lay back here on the floor and staring up at his eyes I can't help but feel as though this isn't the first time I've been in a situation like this. I know there is someone important that used to be like this with me. It hurts my chest the more I try to remember. It's just another reason to fight and figure out what this expanding gap in my head is.

As if there weren't enough already.

"Well, time for resting is over. Get the bloody hell up we got a battle to win." I pause and stare even deeper into his eyes before he pulls back and holds out a hand to help me up. He's wearing what almost seems like a black material over his torso. It looks like leather but seems to have a stronger metallic flash to it. Though it is darker than the night I can still see where it frames around his torso and arms. I can see the muscles that line his arm. I can see the forming six pack.

I see him.

"You gonna stare at me all day or are you gonna get up eh Private."

I wrap my arms around his neck slowly and keep my gaze locked with his. "What the hell are you doing?" He exclaims.  
>"Shut the fuck up and duck."<p>

I flip us and slam him down harshly as fire roars over our heads in a screeching wail. I swear for a moment that as I glance over my shoulder and up towards it, I see a face in the fire momentarily. Pure golden eyes and a roaring face with snarls with agony and anger as it missed us... I must be going mad. I'm seeing things. That can be the only logical answer that I can see right now. But from the fact that Newt has his head turned away sharply and is doing everything in his power not to look at it. I feel that there may be something more to this than what I'm seeing. I feel the clothes along my back begin to give way as they are set alight and fall to remaining shreds beneath us. It takes my full and concentrated will not to scream out as the flames lick along my spine, almost as though they are tasting my skin, seeing how much they enjoy causing me excruciating agony.

I bite my lips till blood begins to slowly drip down my chin and splash Newt on the cheek.

Then when I can no longer hold back my cries?

His hand clamps down over my mouth and he looks into my eyes with a deep pleading. _Don't say anything. Please. For the love of god. Don't say anything! _That's what his eyes convey in a message to me. That look of pure desperation... I know that even if I could remember my life before these last few minutes.

I never would have seen such desperation like that. I never would have seen someone needing me so much to do one thing.

So I do it.

Tears stream down my face and cover his fingers as I can't take the pain. It's sinking further and further into me as it settles on the spot in my back, opposite my naval. It's marking me. It's branding me. _A bit longer. Please! Please! _His eyes continue to plead to me as our situation doesn't change. It's hanging in their as long as possible. It's trying to get me to make a noise. It's trying to get me to do something. Anything to acknowledge to it that I'm in pain.

But I can't allow it.

I'm in the awkward position where now I have no choice but to protect someone else.

Finally the flames pass and I collapse onto him. I have no energy. The flames seemed to have sapped me, body and soul. I can't think. I can't see. I can only feel. Feel as the heat of my skin blisters causing smoke to rise into the cold night air. I feel his warm breath rushing over my neck as he whispers softly. "Come on. Don't be down on me now! Come on!" He pauses as I feel him shift slightly. I'm guessing he has seen what has happened to my back. By the way his body tenses beneath me I know that it's not good. "Don't make me give you the bleeding kiss of life cause I will."  
>"You should be so lucky." I manage to whisper as the air comes back into my lungs.<p>

The heavy scent of burning is in the air around me. The stench seems to be staining everything like ink spreading in water. I can only fear what this may attract in this new and very strange surroundings. "Can you move?"  
>"I think so. D-Don't worry about me." I turned my head up and with his help I manage to move slightly.<p>

But then I stop.

For a moment I stay absolutely nothing but crouch as I listen intently to the large cries coming all around us.

Then I finally take my first clear sighted look to what should be the sky above us... but al I see is the black of night.

The remains of what looks like a ravaged barrier.

The black and deep purple swirl almost like they are crying. They move rapidly and blend over us while stars fracture in broken shards moving with this strange and swirling tide of dark colour. What remains? Why does is this strange and yet familiar to me? "I think you can get off me now." Newt whispers with a gravel voice. His hand curls around my wrist and he hauls me to my feet, not giving me the luxury of a choice this time.

Even under the orange explosions which seemed to shake this small, open cell, I still stared at his face as his gaze was torn away and he seemed to be preparing himself for something. His body was tense and his grip was like a vice. I couldn't have broken free... even if I had wanted to. "Get ready to run. What ever you do. Do not look back or around. Keep yours eyes either focused on me or directly in front of you."

I nod and focus my eyes directly in front of me as he gets behind me and gets us lined up in a specific direction. He seems unsure at first but becomes quickly certain as we feel the heat drawing back towards us again as it seems like that wave of fire is returning. "We've got to run. Now." He states.

My nerves are drowned in a deep and gnawing fear. My legs are burning and ache with a stabbing pain. I just want to curl up and sleep.

But to sleep here would mean I wouldn't wake to see another torn sky.

"Okay, get ready." Newt whispers softly into my ear as his hand slides gently along my bare shoulder and we crouch, waiting to pounce. I can already feel burns beginning to surface and become even thicker on my back. His hand is barely the slightly touch above the skin. If I couldn't feel just how badly my entire back was burnt, I could probably guess from how little he was touching me. "Remember. Focus directly ahead of you. Don't become distracted by anything you see."  
>"What if I fall?" The stupid question escapes my lips. Of course I know what's going to happen if I fall.<p>

I'm going to die.

If I don't make this now. If I don't get out of this god damn box, I'm going to die. One way or another.

"I'll fall with you."

I pause. Surprise fills me. Already I know that no one has ever spoken to me like that. From my over all persona so far I can guess that I'm a loner. The impulse to protect this boy was something out of complete a unknown, spontaneous urge which I'm sure for the rest of my life I will never be able to explain. Maybe it was something to do with fate... maybe it was instincts telling me to protect him... maybe it was even something else. But right now all that matters is staying alive. "I'll be right behind you." He whispers and I lace my fingers with him.

I feel like a child. I'm scared. I'm truly scared. I don't know what is waiting for me in front of this box. I don't know what nightmares I'm going to face. I just know... that having this boy with me is the only reason I have the smallest butterfly of courage within me right now. Having his hand to hold... It is the thing which is giving that butterfly the power to fly.

_Time to spread your wings. _

I reach out a blackened hand. The flames must have spread further than I thought... The skin is crispy and flaking off to reveal raw and burnt sores. Even so, my fingers still curl around the edge of the box and I take a long and deep breath. My heart beat is echoing in my ears. Everything else is drowning out till the only sounds are those of my breathing and my racing heart.

_And Fly. _

I yank harshly and vault over the exit.

I feel Newt pushing me, giving me the extra force that I need to make it up to the ledge. "GO!" He roars and I waste no time in locking my sight on anything in front of me.

I try not to look up as I hear the screech of flames returning to me as quickly as though they had never left. It's diving right for Newt. I can't push him out of the way. I haven't got the strength. The only thing that is standing between Newt and that fire... is me.

I can't let him get hurt.

_Come to far to be finished by some stupid little ember. _My thoughts roar. A weak smirk slowly moves at the side of my mouth as I whisper. "Bring it."

As the flames hit me, I meet them on with a head on collision. I give them no chance to come close to Newt. I've given them no chance to even have the pleassure of looking at him. _You're willing to fall for me? _I think as out of the corner of my eye I see his body tense as he scrambles over the ledge. _Well I'm willing to fight for you_. I've leapt into the air as though a Gazelle was sprinting over a stream. I spin and out stretch my foot as I go like a spinning top through the air. I'm an razor cutting through the fire. The fire dances with me as it moves along my arms and down my spine like they are tracing the bones and movements. It lines my cheeks and circles my eyes as though all of a sudden it is becoming a body armour and embracing me deeply in a hug.

I get the smallest glimpse of Newt's eyes widening as I spread my arms and punch through the last bit of the wave with an almighty screech of my own.

The screech is just fuelled as I make contact with those golden eyes which blister me but fade.

The fire falls and diminishes as though I had just ripped it's very heart out... but at the cost of my hand which is now numbed. "Come on!"

The screeches surrounding us become louder as my bear foot slams down onto the ash grey gravel.

Up ahead I can see the longest of a distance away. A Green island. It's hills spire into the sky like an unbelievable mountain. They are the most lush colour of emerald. Even from here, the turquoise water sparkles as though it is in sunlight. Pure and absolute sunlight which will not be broken by the darkness of this sky which is growing. The colours of purple and black are swirling more violently over head.

That's when I realise.

This island up ahead. The mountain hills. The expanse I can see of jungle. The shinning water. It's under a real bit of sky! It's in real sunlight! A perfect and complete circle of sunlight! "Don't look any other way!" Newt snarls. "Focus on that island and that Island only!"

I can tell by the way he says it that this is definite. "You have to move kid! You have to go now!"

I keep my eyes fixated on that golden aura around that beautiful island. The water looks so close and yet so far away. "You're going to have to really want it. You have to want to get there otherwise you will never get it! The place messes with your head. Imagine it's like a dream! The smallest bit of doubt will keep you here!"  
><em>Like a dream? More like a nightmare! <em>

This is ridiculous. How could I want anything more than to reach that place! How could I want anything else-

_Maybe that box can take me back to the way I came._

And there it was.

The smallest bit of doubting, hanging in like a parasite. My subconscious not being able to keep up with my mind. That was what was keeping me here.

That's what was going to get me killed!

_There is no safety back there. There is nothing back there but death. we have to go with Newt! We're gonna die without him!  
>So far he hasn't done so good himself! <em>It was strange having my own voice snarling back at me in my head. _Look at you! You're burnt! You're gonna die! And for what?! Some boy you barely know!_  
><em>Who the fuck do you think you are!?<br>I'M YOU MORON  
><em>"Good point." I muttered and groaned as the pain in my back flared. We had been sprinting out flat for the last ten minutes and we seemed to be getting no where.

The fires in the sky seemed to be rekindling themselves while some suspicious metallic scraping sound was getting closer and closer from behind us. Newt was growing more desperate by the second. He seemed almost close to just picking me up and carrying me off but the hard look of determination in his face seemed to say something else. "Listen kid. I don't know your story. But you got to listen to me! I promise I'm going to keep you safe. I promise as long as your with me, you will never get hurt! I give you my word!"

We paused as I stared at him. He wasn't just saying it for the sake of motivating me... he... truly meant it.

This boy I hardly knew... he cared for me. He was looking out for me. He didn't have to make these promises much less sound sincere about them. He didn't know me... I could be anyone.

_I trust him. _

There was a cold rush in my mind before I heard a smug and grinning voice of my own whisper: _Congratulations... you pass the first trial. Good hunting.. that's if you survive and prove your statement._

"What?" My eyes widened.

I turned and almost let out a mad yelp as I turned and found the Island a short distance from me.

All that was separating it from me was a large canyon fissure. It was as though the island I had seen barely a minute before was now breaking and fracturing away from this ashen and broken limbo of a nightmare storm. _There's no way I can get over that gap. It's impossible! There's no way I could jump over that distance! _

There was doubt once again.

Newt looked at me with a renewed smile. "You trust me." He reached out a hand across the expanding and growing fissure. "Please! You trust me! You have to trust me now more than ever!"  
>"I-I can't jump that."<p>

The sound of an oncoming hoard was growing louder behind me. "Don't look!" He roared as I went to turn my head but stopped. "Please jump!"  
>"What if I fall!" Tears began to surface to the edge of my eyes. This was becoming to much. I couldn't handle it! It was all just impossible!<br>"Then I promise." He said quietly.

I looked up through the tears to see him offer me a soft smile. "I'll fall with you."

_You could try turning the other way and running-  
><em>"Fuck off" I snarled to my thoughts before taking a deep breath and bounding forward to take my leap of faith.

_I can't do it! I can't do it!_

The fissure kept opening wider and wider.

_I can't-_

I locked eyes with Newt as his gaze became hard set.

_He will catch me... He will catch me._

I smiled softly as I reached out both my arms towards him. His hands were ready to grab me and hold me.

_I can. _I smiled and watched as he mirrored the expression.

_I can't. _My smile melted away and a scream escaped me as the fissure widened and I began to drop like a rock.


	3. Dressing the wounds

_**Hi everyone. I hope you have a nice day where ever you are. **Warning: story contains BoyxBoy, swearing, scenes of violence and bear in mind and ratings may be turned up at a later time. I want to thank anyone who favourites or follows this story =) Maybe leave a review if you're enjoying it?****_

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><p>"I GOT YOU!" I cry out in pain as his hands grab onto my wrist viciously.<p>

His eyes are set wild and determined. Almost like they are full of madness. My other hand latches around to grab his as the expanding cliff is beginning to close faster around us. The fissure is trying to crush me! _Told you, you wouldn't make it.  
>SHUT UP! <em>The doubt continues. Even now when I'm on the verge of falling to my death. When I'm seconds away from being crushed into nothing... it is still there. Will it continue to hound me till I take my last breath? Till the oxygen is crushed out of me? Till every bone in my body is smashed beyond recognition and I'm nothing more than a obliterated corpse.

I'm lost in a world of pain. It getting harder to tell reality from the intense and never ending pain. I need it to stop. I need to focus.

I stare up at Newt as he is trying with all his might to pull me over the edge.

I the fissure is grinding shut faster and faster. It sounds as though the very land is stampeding at me with the force of a rushing, run away train. If I fall now I will die. If I wait any longer, I will die.

Either way this situation ends... _I'm going to die_.

"No you're not!" Newt growls and lets out frustrated scream. His arms are burning with the effort to pull me up. It has nothing to do with how light or heavy I am. It has everything to do with how exhausted he is. I can see better now. His eyes have dark circles around them... like he hasn't been sleeping. "You should just let me fall." I whisper softly.

His eyes become harder than the rocks closing in on me. "I told you."

I felt myself beginning to rise as he screamed with the effort. He was too exhausted to be able to do this... and yet he was!

"You're not going to die!"

He and I both scream as he pulls me over the edge just as the fissure closes. The last sight I catch of it is how it resembles a large fanged mouth, the black darkness lashes out like a tongue, just missing being able to brush over my ankle. The shadows from deep within almost seem to hiss at the loss of not being able to claim me and drag me to my death. I swear for the slightest of seconds before it closed, the shadows looked like hands trying to drag me away.

But now the adrenaline floods out of my body, leaving me a trembling mess as I can't do anything but think over in my head. _It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. _

I can't do anything else except collapse onto him and close my eyes as I pant for breath. My chest is heavy and hurts. My heart is racing beyond what it should be able to do. I'm in shock. _Calm down or you're going to pass out! _My voice roars angrily in my head. It sounds like such an cruel accusation as though I should not feel anything like this?

It takes me a minute to realise that tears are now sprinkling down my cheek. My chest is tight with pain as my skin burns and tingles with a deep cold whenever I move. My arms wrap around myself and I begin to realize just how deep into shock I really am going. I feel like I'm back in that god damn lift. I'm trapped and can't breathe! There's no one there! Just me, here, stuck.

Staring at a fucking beast which now watches me with a longing and deep rooted emotion through sparkling crimson eyes. How to describe what I am looking at? A horde of great metal beats. Giant hounds with flecks of bare skin showing under the black, obsidian armour of spiked fur. It's muzzle pulled back to show the dripping and oozing gooey slime of a deep emerald slime, grinding through the thick titanium fangs. It's crimson sensor eyes seemingly looked completely glazed over but were completely focused.

It's long spiked tail slowly unrolled from around it's shiny and intense form. It was a long and large thing, about the thickness of a tree trunk, there seemed to be a main bone connected at the centre but mainly consisted of layer upon layer of metal spikes which all begin to shuffle and grow as they seem to want to wrap around me and pull me tight.

It's giant paws dig further into the ground as on the outside of it's putrid skin a vein of metal moves from each elongated and intense claw and back up the leg of each creature. "Stop looking at me." I manage through the new and painful breathing which seems to have come with the clammy and burning temperature of my broken and yet fractured skin. I hate it. I hate them looking at me with that deep and ravenous hunger. "Calm down." Newt whispers quietly, almost in a warning but my eyes are still locked on them.  
>"I said. Stop. Looking at me." I growled, closing my hand into a fist and feeling the blood explode out through the ashen black skin as my it breaks. But I don't even care as I stare it down. I know what it is doing.<p>

It's mocking me.

It let's out a long drawn growl which seeps a puddle of that green ooze onto the ground in a growing flooding line which begins to strangely creep to a stop just in front of me, along the long scar line of the fissure. It can't get anywhere near us...

I smirk.

I reach out just fine and find my blackened hand can move through the air unlike the trailing slime towards the ground... I can get in and out.

But they can't.

"I told you." I reached down with a grin and picked up a sharp rock into my palm. "Stop looking at me!" I scream and hurl the rock with as much strength as I can.

The beast lets out a howling scream as the sound of shattering glass fills the air. I allow myself a smug sadistic joy at the notion before I see the blazing black hole eyes of the creature that I have just pissed off.

It fixes me with a loathing snarl and lunges towards the barrier.

What's worse? Is for a moment it even begins to look like a boy. Golden hair distorted by the rich crimson of blood which splatters across it's face. I must be hallucinating. It must be my madness. I must have lost too much blood. That's it. I must have lost my mind and this is some hallucinated dream. Because right now I'm staring at the bare form of the boy who bangs his fists frantically against the invisible barrier which is holding him back. "It's okay. He can't hurt you."

I barely even notice Newt now as I stare deeply into those black tainted eyes. I can see the image of the boy flickering frantically between boy and back to beast. This is madness! It has to be! This just can't be real! "No."

I watch it back away as it becomes the solid image of the beast again. My mind locking onto what I can only perceive as the truth of what I am surrounded by. I have to accept it's a beast about to kill me. That way, I can feel nothing.

But what I feel right now? I'm stuck beneath the tide of shock. My skin is in agony just as I am. I'm losing too much blood. My head is spinning. What happened. By god what has happened! I've ran, been burnt, been hunted, branded... At least I think I have. The fire on my back is clearly and painfully shaped.

I breathe and let out a heavy sob as I bury my head into the thick black armour of his chest. I can feel the way it is shaped over his strong torso, like some kind of full shaped Roman. The black armour slowly moving around his strong six pack and across his naval while his chest is more toned than anything in my wildest dreams... why am I thinking like this? I need to think more clearly! I have to recognise how I'm going to survive the hell which I am now completely imprisoned in.

_Focus. Focus you weakling. Wake up and get your head back together._

All I do now is stand here and pause closing my eyes painfully.

It won't stop! It won't stop! Why won't these stupid emotions stop!

Why am I crying? Why can't I stop? I'm don't even care that he is seeing me like this now. The shock has spread through my body. Right now I'm completely desperate to stop. I'm showing every ounce of weakness. _You're weak! Pathetic! Look at you! _The voice screams ever so loudly in my head. Everything... everything is just so wrong. This place is just completely impossible! Living fire which slowly burns and brands you as though you are it's toy? Hoards of rampaging metal which hunts you down as though you are some lowly dog? The very ground itself, trying to swallow and claimed you before it can crush you. What the hell is this place? What kind of person could create a hell zone like this? How cruel would you have to be to develop a landscape that wants to kill you?!

But right now, fear and hatred for the bastards who put me here is the least of my worries. Though I'm certain of absolutely one thing. Hatred and fear aren't going to get me killed... deep down I have a feeling that right now they are the only thing giving my body the capability to be able to keep moving. Pain is the thing that keeps my heart beating louder and louder because now my hatred is keeping the blood flowing. I'm only alive because right now? I'm the desperate clanging creature which is submerged and clinging to life out of the only aim to find my torturer and...

And rip their throat out.

But that doesn't matter now. I can still feel it.

My back still feels as though it is drowned in fire... but then I let out a gasp as I feel Newt's cold fingers and arm slowly set down gently around me as he holds me. I can tell by the way he is tensed that this action does not come easily to him. He isn't use to the action of comforting someone... just as I know I am not used to being someone that is comforted by another person. This action feels completely wrong to me... and yet I know that this is probably so right.

He is hesitant about this, as though he feels showing his emotions are wrong at this moment of time. But I can't help and agree, I shouldn't be crying. It makes me feel weak. Drained. Exposed under burning eyes. It makes me feel ashamed that I feel. It makes me feel like I'm small and insignificant that I'm showing anything of emotion or holding onto this boy that I've barely known for the last half an hour.

But part of me just doesn't care any more.

His fingers are so cold that they seem to numb the agony slightly. They roam slowly across my back and I stiffle a scream into the harsh, smooth material of his chest. I can feel it all cracking down my spine until he finally manages to move the broken patches down. His fingers caress the exposed and open pink flesh that lays beneath all the black cracks. All my skin is obliterated. The only part that remains is partly my face, but even that is now marred with the scar of whiskers and the blackened circles around my eyes. It all burns so much. The pain is so deep. God... I just want it to stop. I want him to keep his hands there. I want him to hold me. I want to forget everything that has happened since I woke up to this god damn nightmare! "Hey come on now. We've still got a bit of a ways to go." His voice is so soft that I almost lose hearing of it as a breeze brushes through the air.

I slowly pull myself back up. I can feel the skin on my back cracking open with the slightest bit of movement. The feeling of dripping blood quickly follows without hesitation. It stings my skin which is still weeping pain across my nerves. I wish it would all just blackout and die without anything at all. I wish I could go to the bliss of the afterlife which I imagined as my salvation away from this hell... that's if, this wasn't already my hell.

_**-Break-**_

Newt watched as we came up the the edge of the water. We have been walking for what feels like hours. The gravel ground beneath us was always changing from the metallic colour of sandy long rocks to the mist covered coast which I somehow wish nothing more than to escape from. It makes me feel uncomfortable how it was Always shuffling and trying to reach up to swallow us. "It's like blooming quick sand." He always growls every now and then. That silky bewitching voice ever so quiet but dominant in the limbo which we were submerged in.

But I can't focus. Everything around me is nothing more than a shifting drug which is making my vision go wild.

It's only when Newt's hand wrap around my torso and I stare at my reflection in a light pool of turquoise, do I realise that we're here... how? It still looked as though we were miles away!

I turn my head and slowly look back up to his saddened face as a thought is crossing it. "You're losing too much blood. It's going to make you weak for a while." He whispers so softly that I almost miss it. "You're a bloody idiot doing that to save me. I ain't ever seen anyone take on one of the Wicked let alone one of the Betrayed."  
><em>Betrayed? Wicked? <em>Words so strange and yet familiar to my head.  
>"Do I dare ask." I hiss between my teeth and close my eyes, feeling the control of air through my lungs a continuous struggle.<br>"The Betrayed... you just witnessed their... form." Newt seemed to be struggling with the words as he pushed his lips into a very hard line. I wonder if they are soft enough to be kissed-  
><em>Time. And. Place. <em>A voice growls deeply inside of my head.  
>"They were once soldiers... like us." He looks back in the direction that we have just come from. "They went through... The <em>Changing<em>." He scoffs slightly at that as though he finds it bitterly ironic in some old memory. "But all that matters is, they were stung or bitten by one... then they came through the change. They now have their own patrolled area. Just like the lived in their own land as we do... I hope we never have to see it." He whispers with certainty.

He always keeps his voice low. He never seems to speak above the wind.

But for some reason inside of me... I have a need to speak up. I feel as though by insulting them... he's insulting me.  
><em>Did you hit your head when you jumped?<br>_"Fuck off." I snarl quietly, hoping that he didn't notice. "But I guess even they must feel threatened when they see a h-" I pause as I was about to say: a hot soldier. "A heavily armed soldier, approaching hem with a gun like that." I point and indicate to the one on his back.

"And yet, they're always the first to attack." He mumbles quietly. "But even then...You see... we don't just normally dress like this." He indicates down to his sculpted torso in the heavy armour,. His eyes are piercing and bitter as he looks over himself with great criticising nature. "We only ever get this whenever we cross the border." He now indicates his head at the water. "You will see what I mean soon. But you got a name kid?"

He finally lowers me down and places me gently on the floor as I no longer feel control of my limbs. My body feels as though it's still just burning in agony. I'm starting to get sick of hearing him call me kid! We're the same bloody age after all! "I don't remember." I admit with a deep bitter stab while I try to search my mind for some form of answer to the question... but nothing comes. My mind is still the empty expanse of nothing but thought and the horror which has brought between me and the last hour of being here. "Well... how about you earn it. Like the rest of our tribe. I'm going to have to cool down this skin... try and get some of the Wicked's poison out."  
>"Poisonous flames?" I barely manage a glare through half lidded eyes.<br>"Here." He pulled out a line of rope that he used to get down to me in the lift.

He gently lifts my mouth open and pulls the length in sideways so that my teeth are biting down into it. "You're going to need this." He whispers softly.  
><em>What? <em>I slowly stare up at him as he pulls out a cupped handful of water. _Why would I need-_

My scream fills the air as the water pours down my skin.


End file.
